Set amidst a beautiful Victorian garden Elvaston looks the very essence of a Victorian country manor house. But although the visible exterior was only built in the mid Victorian era it has enclosed a much older building. Elvaston Castle actually dates from around the mid 1600’s but even this is only the latest in a series of buildings, which go back as far as the 11th century. the current building was designed by James Wyatt and built around 1817 for the 3rd Earl of Harrington. Elvaston had been the ancestral home of the Stanhope family since the early 18th century, when William Stanhope was made the first Earl of Harrington. A bay window from the original house was incorporated into its successor, and legend has it that when looking through this window people have seen a woman dressed in white moving backwards and forwards as if in a rocking chair. The estate is now a country park open to the public and the house is devoted to offices, a museum and a cafe. Workers there say that the 'White Lady' slams doors, drops things and interferes with the living by stealing items. She is often seen going from the house to the nearby churchyard where she apparently reads the gravestones and mutters to herself. Many witnesses have also seen her in the company of a large white dog, while a troop of phantom 'Roundhead' soldiers of the English Civil War period have been seen marching and riding in the vicinity of the house.